Unbundling and Regulatory Bodies in the context of the recast of the 1 st railway package Presentation of briefing notes to the Committee on Transport and Tourism Tuesday 12 th April 2011 Steer Davies Gleave 28-32 Upper Ground London, SE1 9PD +44 (0)20 7910 5000 www.steerdaviesgleave.com TRAN Committee presentation 1
Contents Introduction Market overview Typology and structure of Regulatory Bodies in the railway sector Impact of separation between infrastructure management and transport operation in the railway sector TRAN Committee presentation 2
Introduction The TRAN Committee has requested two briefing notes on: Typology and structure of Regulatory Bodies The impact of the separation between infrastructure management and transport operations Aim: To gather a comprehensive overview of different models of regulation in force across Member States and the existing cases of vertical separation compared to cases of vertical integration. TRAN Committee presentation 3
Market review (1) Trends in rail passenger transport since 2000 Rail share of total passenger transport at around 6%. Significant growth in Denmark (+41.9%), UK (+36.4%) and Belgium (+35.7%). 10% 8% 6% 4% Non car passenger market share evolution 2% 0% 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Powered 2-wheelers Buses & Coaches Railways Tram & Metro Air Sea TRAN Committee presentation 4
Market review (2) Trends in freight rail transport since 2000 In freight transport rail share slightly greater than 10%. Significant growth in Latvia (+55.3%), Germany (+44.1%) and Austria (+42.5%). 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% Evolution of freight market share 10% 5% 0% 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Road Sea Rail Inland Wate rway Oil Pipeline Air TRAN Committee presentation 5
Market review (3) evolution of freight market shares Market shares of non-incumbent RUs: UK (100%), Estonia (57%), Romania (45%), the Netherlands (36%) and Poland (32%). Average market share increased from 10.5% in 2005 to 22% in 2009 100% 90% 2005 2006 2008 2009 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% AT BE BG CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR HU IT LT LV NL PL PT RO SE SI SK UK TRAN Committee presentation 6
TYPOLOGY AND STRUCTURE OF REGULATORY BODIES IN THE EU RAILWAY SECTOR TRAN Committee presentation 7
Introduction on Regulatory Bodies (RBs) Primary objective: to ensure independent and impartial oversight of the market, to ensure free market access to new RUs. Article 30, Directive 2001/14/EC requires RB to be independent of the IM, RU and charging and capacity allocation bodies. The ongoing parliamentary debate on the recasts of the 1 st railway package has shown that the role of the Regulatory Bodies, as supervisors of the railway market, should be improved. TRAN Committee presentation 8
Types of Regulatory Bodies RBs have different powers, financial resources, staff and structure. Standalone Integrated Completely independent Tied to Ministry Bulgaria; Czech Republic; Greece; Spain; France; Hungary; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Austria; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovenia; Slovakia; UK Wider transport regulator: Belgium; Denmark; Finland; Sweden Wider utilities regulator/competition authority: Estonia; Germany; Luxembourg; Netherlands Czech Republic; Germany; Estonia; Greece (transition to be completed shortly); France; Hungary; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Austria; Finland; Sweden; UK Belgium; Bulgaria; Denmark; Spain; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovenia; Slovakia TRAN Committee presentation 9
Overview of infringements identified by the Commission European Commission identified (2009) problems with implementation of Article 30 MEMBER STATES Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Lithuania, France, Luxembourg, Latvia, Slovenia Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg Denmark, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania Slovenia, Spain. OBSERVATIONS Insufficient independence of RB from the (incumbent) RU and/or the IM. Insufficient power of RB to monitor competition in the rail service market. Insufficient enforcing powers of RB to take and enforce the necessary decisions. Part of or subject to the same ministry that contributes to control the state owned RU. In 2010 the European Commission referred Greece, Czech Republic, Germany and Spain to ECJ TRAN Committee presentation 10
Market share of new entrants and infringements 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% NA BG FI SK PT BE AT HU DE PL SE NL UK LV EE ES RO CZ EL SI FR IE LU LT IT DK NA 1 2 3 4 No infringements Infringements TRAN Committee presentation 11
Review of administrative capacity Most RBs <60 staff. Half employ around 20 staff. e.g. Italian RB with 10 staff (budget of 30,000 + salaries) oversees a market of >25 operators. Staff numbers 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 No. of active freight licenses & No. of staff in RBs FI SI EE LV ES RO BE IT AT LT LU BG DK HU EL DE FR SK CZ UK NL SE 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Number of licences TRAN Committee presentation 12
Independence and funding for RBs Member State Same office address Same website & email RB & IM/RU overlap Source of funding Belgium, Latvia No No No Industry (IM) Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden No No No State Hungary No No No Industry & State UK No No No Industry (All) Denmark, France, Lithuania, Luxembourg No No Yes State Austria No No No Industry (RUs) Poland Yes No No State Italy, Slovenia, Spain Yes Yes Yes State Greece - - Yes State TRAN Committee presentation 13
Conclusions on Regulatory Bodies Effectiveness of RBs across the EU varies significantly. Clear case for strengthening existing legislation to better guarantee the independence of RBs. Also need adequate resources & ability to act quickly and effectively. A need for RBs to function independently of government, particularly where the latter has a direct interest in national RUs or IM. Future policy options should ensure that RBs are properly resourced and have appropriate powers, recognising that the need for regulatory intervention and oversight may vary between MSs. TRAN Committee presentation 14
THE IMPACT OF THE SEPARATION BETWEEN INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT AND TRANSPORT OPERATIONS IN THE EU-RAILWAY SECTOR TRAN Committee presentation 15
Introduction on unbundling/separation Other utilities subject to vertical separation and liberalisation to increase competition. Railways retain substantial technological barriers (interoperability). The IM must be independent of any RU for capacity allocation. There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to separation. Different approaches to vertical separation have produced different results, with differing impacts on competition. TRAN Committee presentation 16
Vertical separation in the railway sector Different MSs adopted different models: Full separation: in legal, organisational and institutional terms. IM is independent of RU(s). Partial separation: IM and RU(s) organisationally & legally separated. The main RU effectively retains responsibility for key infrastructure management functions. Partial integration: IM and RU(s) organisationally separate, but are subsidiaries of the same holding company. Fully integrated: no separation of IM and RU(s). TRAN Committee presentation 17
Degree of separation in Member States The degree of separation monitored by the Commission (RMMS 2009) CATEGORY MEMBER STATE (2009) Full separation Great Britain, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Slovakia, Lithuania, Romania, Czech Republic, Greece Partial separation Partial integration Full integration Estonia, France, Hungary, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Latvia Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland Ireland, Northern Ireland The Commission concluded that many of the current models are not fully compliant with the requirements of the 1 st Railway Package. TRAN Committee presentation 18
Degree of independence of IM and incumbent RU Links between IM and RU Member States Denmark; Great Britain; Netherlands; Norway; Spain; Sweden; Common board members Offices in same building Incumbent undertakes some infrastructure management Incumbent controls access to some assets No No No No Germany; Portugal; Slovakia No No No Yes Belgium Yes No No No Austria Yes No No Yes Czech Republic; France; Poland No No Yes Yes Italy No Yes No Yes Estonia No Yes Yes Yes Slovenia Yes Yes No No Hungary; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Northern Ireland; Yes Yes Yes Yes TRAN Committee presentation 19
Overview of infringements identified by the Commission Member States 13 MSs referred to ECJ: Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain Date of EC action June 2010 Reasoned opinions to 21 Member States October 2009 Opened infringement proceedings against all Member States except the Netherlands June 2008 Most common infringement: not sufficiently ensuring the independence of the IM TRAN Committee presentation 20
Case studies on vertical separation (1) Great Britain: Competitive franchise bidding has helped to stimulate market growth + encouraged service innovation. Costs increased substantially since 2000. Some argue that industry costs are excessive partly as a result of complexities and inefficiencies of the contractual matrix. Sweden: No evidence of coordination issues following separation. Improvement in performance & reduction in delays since separation. Excluding investments there has been a fall in the cost. TRAN Committee presentation 21
Case studies on vertical separation (2) Netherlands: Separation lead to improvements in punctuality, reliability, capacity and safety. No clear evidence of an increase in costs. Italy: Substantial entry into freight market. New entrant operators continue to identify barriers hindering access. No clear evidence of an increase in costs. France: Separation only partial. Some entry but competition delayed. GID limiting potential entry. TRAN Committee presentation 22
Separation and liberalisation H-H index score 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 RMMS 2009 EE UK RO PL DE HU AT FR LV BE ES FI LT PT SI Rail freight market opening score Different views on liberalisation Both agreed markets are now more open across Europe TRAN Committee presentation 23
Separation and market shares of non-incumbents No infringements Infringements 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% EL FI LT SK ES PT SE NL RO DK UK SI HU FR LV EE BE LU AT IT CZ DE PL Fully separated Partially separated Partially integrated TRAN Committee presentation 24
Conclusions on vertical separation (1) Despite structural changes, established relationships between the IM and incumbent RU remain in place in some MSs. Regulation alone is unlikely to guarantee non-discrimination in access. More rapid market opening is likely to depend on greater separation of the IM and RUs than has been achieved in many MSs to date. Issues, such as the ability of a dominant RU to unduly influence capacity allocation and other decisions through co-location with the IM should also be addressed. TRAN Committee presentation 25
Conclusions on vertical separation (2) Future mechanisms could assess the various policy options including independence of operational decision making as distinct from legal separation. Costs of vertical separation may be significant if complex contractual frameworks are required e.g. for timetable co-ordination, payment of liquidated damages for delays etc. Observed trends in costs, fares and service quality can be explained by a wide range of factors and cannot be attributed only to separation. TRAN Committee presentation 26
Thank you TRAN Committee presentation